Shimla, January 4
The Congress is looking for firm pre-poll alliances in Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu to dislodge the NDA regime at the Centre.
Stating this here today, Mr Gulam Nabi Azad, a senior party leader, said proper alliances in these three important states would make Congress a force to reckon with in the ensuing Lok Sabha poll.

Hospital project falls prey to politicsChakmoh (Hamirpur), January 4
The ambitious project to have an allopathic hospital for the people of the Nadaunta area has fallen prey to dirty party politics.

The campus of the proposed allopathic hospital at Chakmoh village in Hamirpur district, where an ayurvedic hospital has come up. Inset left: The defaced foundation stone of the project; right: a board stating the presence of an ayurvedic hospital on the site.

Migratory birds at KhajjiarDalhousie, January 4
The Youth Hostels Association of India, which is organising the National Himalayan Winter Trekking Expedition at Dalhousie, has arranged for a resource person to encourage the participants in bird watching.

7 lakh children get polio drops in HimachalShimla, January 4
Over 7 lakh children up to five years of age were administered polio drops in the first phase of the pulse polio immunisation campaign in the state today.
Mr Virbhadra Singh, Chief Minister, formally launched the campaign by administering polio drops to children at the Rohru civil hospital.

An employee of the Department of Health administers polio drops to a child in Hamirpur on
Sunday. — Tribune photo by Chander Shekhar Sharma

Rs 27.28 crore power project for ChambaChamba, January 4
In order to bring reforms in electricity network in the district, the government has recently approved a project, “Estimated Power Development has recently approved a project, “Estimated Power Development Reform Programme, with an outlay of Rs 27.28 crore.

Firm gets offers for
underground worksShimla, January 4
Having successfully executed Asia’s largest and toughest underground hydro-electric project, the Satluj Jal Vidyut Nigam has got many offers for providing consultancy services, particularly for tunnelling and other underground works.

Land shortage hits growth of industriesKumarhatti, January 4
The non-availability of land is coming in the way of industrialists’ plan to set up units in Parwanoo, the leading industrial town of the state. After the announcement of the Central Government approved industrial package in January last things have not shaped up according to the plan and industrialists seeking benefits of package have failed to set up their units for want of adequate land.

Kumarhatti, January 4
The scenic hill slopes in and around here are fast becoming a dumping place for garbage disposal. Hoteliers, tourists and local people as well are equally responsible for turning green hills into a dumping place of non-biodegradable waste materials.

Shimla, January 4
The Himachal Pradesh Government is considering a proposal to empower panchayats of the state to make the recruitment of village-level functionaries.
This was stated by Mr Virbhadra Singh, Chief Minister, while presiding over a meeting of gram sabha at Brasali in Rohru today.

Shimla, January 4
The Himachal Pradesh Government has drawn up a crash programme to provide drinking water to the uncovered habitations over the next two years.
Out of the total 45367 habitations in the state as many as 36847 have already been covered under drinking water supply schemes.

Shimla, January 4
While the government has initiated a move to make the provision of death penalty for those involved in the manufacture and sale of spurious drugs, Mr B. Suresh, President, Pharmacy Council of India, maintains that it is not a major problem as fake drugs accounted for only 0.5 per cent of the total volume of drug trade in the country.

Chandigarh, January 4
A five-day International Symposium on Snow Monitoring and Avalanches will be organised by the Snow and Avalanche Studies Establishment
from April 12 at Manali.
According to SASE officials, over 150 delegates from India as well as countries like Russia, the United States, France, Austria, Germany, Japan and Switzerland are expected to attend the symposium.

Sundernagar, January 4
The 10-day-long National Service Scheme camp of Maharaja Laxaman Sen Memorial College, Sundernagar, concluded at Sehali village 7-km from here, yesterday.
According to the NSS authorities, 170 students of MLSM College participated.

Students of MLSM College, Sundernagar, constructing the playground of Government High School, Sehali, during the NSS camp which concluded on Saturday.
— Photo by Mahesh Chander Sharma

Dharamsala, January 4
The police has arrested Rajender, Titu, alias Pritam, and Subhash for allegedly murdering Tarvij Singh of Naruhn village under the Jwali police station. The decapitated body of the victim has been recovered.

Shimla, January 4
The Congress is looking for firm pre-poll alliances in Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu to dislodge the NDA regime at the Centre.

Stating this here today, Mr Gulam Nabi Azad, a senior party leader, said proper alliances in these three important states would make Congress a force to reckon with in the ensuing Lok Sabha poll. The party already has an alliance with the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) in Bihar.

He said smaller parties were weighing their options and were not in a hurry to go with either of the big players, the Congress and the BJP for understandable reasons. The five years of the NDA experiment had immensely benefited small regional groups as even parties with just two or four MPs managed to grab ministerial berths. Their bargaining power had increased and they now realised that going it alone could be a better option and they could have a larger share in the spoils in the new regime.

He said the CPM had not been having any alliance with the Congress but it had been supporting the Congress to keep the BJP at bay.

Replying to a question, Mr Azad said that new office-bearers would be inducted in place of those who had resigned after becoming ministers to uphold the principle of one-man-one-post. The exercise would be carried out as soon as the date of the Lok Sabha election was announced. In all probability, a decision would be taken in this regard during the meeting of the national executive of the BJP being held at Hyderabad from January 11.

He said the principle of one-man-one-post was not applied to the Pradesh Congress committee chief but ministers could not remain office-bearers. Seven ministers — Mr Chander Kumar, Mr Harsh Mahajan, Mr G.S. Bali, Mr Raj Krishan Gaur, Mr Singhi Ram, Major Mankotia and Mr B.B. Butail — had resigned from the party posts after becoming ministers. These vacancies would be filled now to strengthen the organisation for the ensuing polls.

Chakmoh (Hamirpur), January 4
The ambitious project to have an allopathic hospital for the people of the Nadaunta area has fallen prey to dirty party politics. The foundation stone of the Rs 3-crore project had been laid by Mr Shanta Kumar, former Chief Minister of Himachal Pradesh, in 1986 in the presence of Mahant Shiv Gir of the Baba Balak Nath temple.

The plan has been shelved and a new building complex to have an Ayurvedic hospital has come up on the land of the proposed complex, costing about Rs 33.56 lakh.

Mahant Shiv Gir of the temple said that he had decided to have a modern hospital for the people of the Nadaunta area for providing them modern health facilities. However, immediately after the foundation stone was laid, the temple was taken over by a government-owned trust and the project suffered badly.

He was pained to say that dirty politics had led to the closure of the project and even defacement of the foundation stone.

Mahant Shiv Gur said the people of the area would realise one day follies of the trust and work to have another modern hospital in the area.

However, the temple trust says that the decision to shelve the allopathic hospital project and to convert it into an ayurvedic hospital was taken after going through its various aspects.

Mr Madan Lal Sharma, temple officer, says that a new building housing a 25-bed ayurvedic hospital has come up at Chakmoh and it was providing various sorts of medical facilities to the people of the area.

Dalhousie, January 4
The Youth Hostels Association of India (YHAI), which is organising the National Himalayan Winter Trekking Expedition at Dalhousie, has arranged for a resource person to encourage the participants in bird watching.

Mr Susanta Das, a wildlife expert and an ornithologist from Orissa, after a tour to Dalhousie Hills, including Kalatop and Khajjiar in Chamba district, has observed that there are around 40 varieties of birds visible in this alpine region at Khajjiar Lake.

He observed
that it was strange to find nearly 100 migratory ducks, including varieties of Pintail, Shoveller and Garganey and also a pair of Smew Ducks. These birds were from Eurasian countries like Siberia and Khazakhistan and were birds of passage moving towards places like Chilika Lake (Orissa), Bharatpur (Rajasthan), Harika Lake (Punjab) and other nearby wetlands.

As Khajjiar comes in the trans-Himalayan migration route, these birds halt at this lake for a short period. Mr Das feels that if Khajjiar Lake is expanded and the inlet to it cleaned properly, and also if some artificial feeding and birdseed are provided, this could not only attract more birds but also make them halt at the lake for a longer period.

Students and bird lovers of this zone could be encouraged to bird watching which will be of educative value and also promote wildlife tourism.

Meanwhile, the local Youth Hostel today organised a programme for students and their parents to watch planets through a special telescope.

Mr Jatin S. Rathod of Nehru Planetarium, Mumbai, helped the students to see the Crescent Phase of Venus, Craters of the Moon, Red Disc of Mars and Rings of Saturn with satellites.

Dalhousians in general and students in particular had been able to get information on general astronomy from Mr Rathod thereby taking advantage of this opportunity.

Shimla, January 4
Over 7 lakh children up to five years of age were administered polio drops in the first phase of the pulse polio immunisation campaign in the state today.

Mr Virbhadra Singh, Chief Minister, formally launched the campaign by administering polio drops to children at the Rohru civil hospital. He appealed to the people to make the campaign a success by ensuring that each and every child in their vicinity was immunised.

About 6,000 booths were set up in the state for the purpose. The second phase of the campaign would be held on February 22.

Polio drops were administered to eight children of Chasg Bhatori village located at a height of 13,330 feet in the Pangi valley.

Dr Suresh Kaul , Block Medical Officer, said 13,827 children up to the age of 5 years were administered polio drops at 82 booths in two blocks. Children were also administered drops at bus stands and other public places.

A rally was organised by the Rotary Club and the Health Department jointly to create awareness about the need of pulse polio immunization on Saturday. School children participated in the rally.

DHARAMSALA: The Himachal Health and Family Welfare Minister, Ms Chandresh Kumari, launched the polio eradication drive by administering polio drops to children at Dr RPG Medical College Hospital here on Sunday.

Senior health and district administration officials, volunteers helping in the programme and representatives of NGOs were present on the occasion.

The minister, said no new case of polio was reported in the state during the past one year. She, however, said this should not lead to complacency and every effort must be made to reach every child below the age of 5 years in the state.

HAMIRPUR:
Anti-polio vaccine was administered, to 44,532 children, up to the age of 5 years, in the district here on Sunday. The administration had set up 282 booths in the district for the purpose.

The Deputy Commissioner, Mr Devesh Kumar, said the second phase of the campaign would be organised on February 22.

Activists of the Rotary Club, led by their president Dr Vinod Sharma and secretary Pankaj Lakhanpal also took part in the campaign.

CHAMBA: Ms Asha Kumari, Education Minister, launched the pulse polio campaign at a function held at the zonal hospital here on Sunday.

The minister administered polio drops to a child and appealed to the parents to make sure that their children, up to the age of 5 years, got polio drops.

NAHAN: The pulse polio campaign in Sirmaur district began with Dr Prem Singh, MLA, and Mr M.L. Sharma, Deputy Commissioner, Sirmaur, administering immunisation drops to children at the Nahan zonal hospital here on Sunday.

In all, 545 booths were set up in the district for administering polio drops to children up to the age of 5 years.

Chamba, January 4
In order to bring reforms in electricity network in the district, the government has recently approved a project, “Estimated Power Development has recently approved a project, “Estimated Power Development Reform Programme (EPDRP), with an outlay of Rs 27.28 crore.

In an official communique sent here today, Mr Harsh Mahajan, Minister for Animal Husbandry, said the ambitious project had been implemented with a view to restructuring the electricity network to mitigate the low-voltage and frequent power-cuts.

Under the project, a 132-KV substation would be set up, and new transmission lines and transformers would be installed to strengthen the electricity network in the area, Mr Mahajan said.

Mr Mahajan informed that the work on the project was under way and the power supply system had been undergoing a complete restructuring.

To strengthen educational standard up to middle level and to improve the literacy rate in the region, Mr Mahajan said Rs 14 crore had been earmarked under the District Primary Education Programme (DPEP).

Regarding priority of the government to provide better health services, Mr Mahajan stated that 15 new doctors, including three in the zonal hospital here, had been posted in the area.

Lashing out at the previous BJP-led government, Mr Mahajan said people had to face the consequences of unfair treatment meted out to the
district by the BJP government when doctors and para-medical staff were transferred to other districts leaving these posts vacant and making the residents to suffer.

Shimla, January 4
Having successfully executed Asia’s largest and toughest underground hydro-electric project, the Satluj Jal Vidyut Nigam (SJVN) has got many offers for providing consultancy services, particularly for tunnelling and other underground works. The 1500 MW Nathpa Jhakri Project, which is already in the commissioning stage, has involved the construction of the country’s longest 27.6-km hydropower tunnel, largest underground desilting chambers in the world and Asia’s biggest underground powerhouse complex. In fact 90 per cent of the works are underground.

The nigam developed expertise in the construction of underground works during the course of the execution of project.

The Konkon Railway Company has sought expertise for boring tunnels for its Udhampur rail line project. It involves the construction of a number of tunnels with aggregate length of about 20 km. The Central Electricity Authority has entrusted it with the task of preparing detailed project reports for Khab-I and Khab-II hydel projects in the Sutlej basin, and Karnataka has assigned it with the techno-economic feasibility study of two hydel projects. The
Uttaranchal government had given the Maner-Bhali project, which was abandoned in 1982.

The nigam had set up a separate consultancy department to take care of such assignments. Mr Vijay Chopra, engineer in charge of the department, said the tunnelling and execution of underground works were in fragile hills. It was a major challenge, as there were a host of geological surprises like hot water springs with temperature as high as 650°C, shear zones and loose rocks, which required special techniques. The engineers proved equal to task and evolved a methodology for excavations and stabilisation of fragile strata. The Central Water Commission has appreciated its achievements on the technological front.

Kumarhatti, January 4
The non-availability of land is coming in the way of industrialists’ plan to set up units in Parwanoo, the leading industrial town of the state. After the announcement of the Central Government approved industrial package in January last things have not shaped up according to the plan and industrialists seeking benefits of package have failed to set up their units for want of adequate land.

The
industrialists are facing similar situation in Baddi and Barotiwala also. The package was designed to boost the industrial development and economy of the state. In package there was 100 per cent exemption in excise duty for a period of 10 years and capital investment subsidy at the rate of 15 per cent of the investment on plant and machinery, subject to a ceiling of Rs 39 lakh besides income tax exemption for a period of five years. From January to December the Department of Industries, Parwanoo had received 150 proposals for setting up small-scale industries and 10 for medium and large-scale industries. Out of which hardly 20 new units have started production till date.

A majority of industrialists have either abandoned the idea to invest here or are looking for an appropriate place to start their business. Parwanoo has 251 industrial plots and out of these lease deeds of 65 plots had been cancelled by the Housing Board after the recommendations of Industries Department for not carrying out commercial activities by the industrialists. Most of the leaseholders of these plots have taken stay order on the matter and the cases are pending in court.

Moreover, the Industries Department has failed to make use of the good number of big industrial plots in town that had been lying unused since long. To arrange the required infrastructure mainly to tap the fresh investment the department has sent three proposals to state government seeking land in and around town for industrial use,

maintained Dr M. L. Mehta, member secretary of the Department of Industries, single window clearance agency, Parwanoo, while admitting that land shortage was adversely affecting the industrial growth of the town.

Around 600-bigha land at Gunaee village on Kasauli road, about 15 km from Parwanoo, can be used for industry use. Besides land at the nearby Masolkhana and Kamli villages can also be used, he added.

Kumarhatti, January 4
The scenic hill slopes in and around here are fast becoming a dumping place for garbage disposal. Hoteliers, tourists and local people as well are equally responsible for turning green hills into a dumping place of non-biodegradable waste materials. The ecologically fragility of the area has come under grave threat as the authorities concerned have so far appeared to be a mute spectator to curb this ever-growing menace.

Certain locations along the Kalka-Shimla national highway have turned into wastage disposal areas. Waste materials like metal cans and plastic bags can be seen scattered on the hills.

The Special Area Development Authorities (SADA), Barog at the time of its formation had publicised through pamphlets that it would make the area coming under its purview clean by improving the civic amenities like streetlights and bringing about proper garbage disposal. However, in reality the claims failed to take any tangible shape. Besides putting up garbage bins along highway, SADA has done little to improve the amenities. Ironically, the dust bins have become a health hazards due to the long delay in cleaning them. The problem has become worse as the waste materials kept in them gets littered around for days together. Moreover, local people do not bother to dump garbage properly in the dust bins.

Shimla, January 4
The Himachal Pradesh Government is considering a proposal to empower panchayats of the state to make the recruitment of village-level functionaries.

This was stated by Mr Virbhadra Singh, Chief Minister, while presiding over a meeting of gram sabha at Brasali in Rohru today. He said the government would provide additional power to the panchayats, which needed to exercise more control over developmental and other activities in their respective areas. He said the government had already placed the functionaries of 15 departments under the control of panchayats so that they could be held accountable. The Panchayati Raj institutions would be given more powers so that they could carry out developmental activities in a need-based manner.

The Chief Minister called upon the panchyat functionaries to work with dedication for the socio-economic uplift of the weaker sections of society in their areas. He said the government was providing adequate funds for the developmental activities to the panchayats, which needed to be spent properly. There was a need for imposing self-discipline amongst the Panchayati Raj institution functionaries. The government would consider the proposal to empower the chairman of the panchayats samitis to write the annual confidential reports of block development officers.

The Chief Minister announced the upgradation of Government Middle School, Brasali, to a high school and the construction of a road bridge in the panchayats.

Shimla, January 4
The Himachal Pradesh Government has drawn up a crash programme to provide drinking water to the uncovered habitations over the next two years.

Out of the total 45367 habitations in the state as many as 36847 have already been covered under drinking water supply schemes. These include 8,144 habitations that have been partially covered. During the current financial year 200 uncovered habitations were being provided piped water. A sum of Rs 115 crore was being spent for the purpose. In addition to this a sum of Rs 49.19 crore was also being spent under the accelerated rural water supply programme.

The government is also working on an Indo-German bilateral project for the development of traditional sources of water. The sources are fast drying up due to changing weather pattern with snow becoming scarce and rising average temperatures.

The centrally sponsored “Swajaldhara” scheme is also being implemented to ensure the people’s participation in the conservation of water. So far 517 proposals have been received from panchayats out of which the Centre has approved 471 and a sum of Rs 292.02 lakh has been released.

The water supply schemes of 28 towns were being augmented and work on as many 16 schemes was in progress.

Shimla, January 4
While the government has initiated a move to make the provision of death penalty for those involved in the manufacture and sale of spurious drugs, Mr B. Suresh, President, Pharmacy Council of India, maintains that it is not a major problem as fake drugs accounted for only 0.5 per cent of the total volume of drug trade in the country.

Talking to mediapersons here today, he said the problem was not about the quality but of manufacturing certain drugs without a valid licence or the misuse of established brand names by small manufacturers. However, genuine drugs are available at authorised outlets. There was little scope for foul play. The existing regulatory mechanism was sufficient to cope with it, he said.

Referring to the state of pharmacy colleges, he said the 200 degree and 250 diploma institutions had the requisite facilities. The standard of education was quite good and the trained manpower being produced by these colleges was in demand not only in the country but also abroad. He said Himachal Pradesh had a good scope for pharmacy colleges and it could be the second biggest employment generation sector after tourism.

The new WTO regime would not have much impact on the prices of existing drugs as almost 95 per cent of these fell outside its ambit. Some new drugs could be costly but there were safeguards in agreement to relax the patent control in case of life-savings drugs and those involving larger interests of the country.

Chandigarh, January 4
A five-day International Symposium on Snow Monitoring and Avalanches (ISSMA) will be organised by the Snow and Avalanche Studies Establishment (SASE) from April 12 at Manali.

According to SASE officials, over 150 delegates from India as well as countries like Russia, the United States, France, Austria, Germany, Japan and Switzerland are expected to attend the symposium.

Talking about ISSMA's objective, a senior SASE scientist said that snow monitoring and mitigation of avalanche threat and glacier hazards in the varied climactic zones of the Himalayas is a challenging task. It requires special methodology, including discussions with snow scientists from various regions.

Besides SASE, a Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) laboratory based in Chandigarh, experts from the Indian Institutes of Technology will attend the meeting among others.

Sundernagar, January 4
The 10-day-long National Service Scheme (NSS) camp of Maharaja Laxaman Sen Memorial College, Sundernagar, concluded at Sehali village 7-km from here, yesterday.

According to the NSS authorities, 170 students of MLSM College participated. The students during the camp stayed at Government High School, Sehali, along with the Principal of the college, Mr R.S. Chandel, and NSS programme officer Chander Parkas. It was further added that a volunteer Mohinder Kaushal has been selected to represent the state in the Republic Day parade in New Delhi.

During the 10-day stay the volunteers of NSS maintained all village paths of Sehali, widened 2.5 km of roads of that gram panchayat and constructed the playground of Government High School, Sehali. The volunteers also planted 200 sapling of different protected species on the concluding day of the camp. The local youths also participated in the
programme.

During the camp SDM, Sundernagar, M. Pankaj Rai told the volunteers about the IRDP, free legal aid and pulse polio programmes. Mr Amar Chand Sharma, Conservator Forest (Silva), educated the volunteers about organic farming and rain water harvesting and Mr Brijesh Sood told them about the community policing programme of the police.

Dharamsala, January 4
The police has arrested Rajender, Titu, alias Pritam, and Subhash for allegedly murdering Tarvij Singh of Naruhn village under the Jwali police station. The decapitated body of the victim has been recovered. The efforts are on to arrest two army men, Ashok Kumar and Dilawar Singh, who are said to be involved in the incident. The duo has reported back on duty with their respective units.

The Kangra Additional Superintendent of Police, Mr Santosh Patial, said the decomposed parts of the body were noticed by Des Raj, on Friday while fencing his land in the village.

He reported the matter to the panchayat and the police. It was found that the headless torso was that of Tarvij Singh, who had been reported missing since December 17 by his mother, Chaino Devi.

Investigations revealed that mother and son had consumed liquor on December 13. Later, a quarrel broke out between them. After being beaten up by her son, Chiano Devi fled to her brothers in Takoli village.

Fearing retaliation by Tarvij Singh, the five planned to murder him and committed the crime on December 15. Later, they severed the head, legs and arms and buried these separately. When questioned, the three confessed to the crime and helped in the recovery of the body.

Hamirpur, January 4
Mr Prem Kumar Dhumal, a Former Chief Minister of Himachal Pradesh and senior BJP leader, claimed here last evening. that there was no bickering in the party. The party was marching towards achieving its goals of forming government at the Centre. It would win all four Lok Sabha seats in the state, he claimed.

He denounced those claiming that the BJP was a divided House in the state. He said the unanimous
election of Mr Suresh Bhardwaj as the state party chief had given clear signal to the people of the state that the party never worked on regional lines.

Dharamsala, January 4
Himachal Transport Minister G.S. Bali, today advised the youth to form societies in villages to generate self-employment in their areas. He declared that the government would help such societies. He was speaking at Bharti Himalayan Public School Jadrangal 15 km from here.

Mr Bali praised Bharti Himalayan School’s contribution to education in this rural area. He said 200 middle schools would be opened this year as education upto middle standard had been made compulsory in Himachal.

The minister also rupees one lakh for the metalling of village link road and Rs 5,000 for the school and Rs 2,000 for the children who presented cultural programme. He also gave away prizes to the children excelling in studies and curricular activities.

Una, January 4
The district police arrested two persons for allegedly killing a deer near Rakkar Colony near the Punjab border yesterday.

The police here today identified the accused as Parkash Chand and Raju. The deer was hit by the jeep in which the two were travelling and died on the spot. The police has booked the duo under Section 51 of the Wildlife Protection Act.
— UNI